Stakeholder Response Mechanism

Helping Parties Resolve Disputes

The Stakeholder Response Mechanism helps project-affected stakeholders, governments and others partners jointly resolve concerns and disputes. It is available when Implementing Partner and UNDP project-level stakeholder engagement processes have not successfully resolved issues of concern. UNDP Country Office management normally leads in Stakeholder Response; a headquarters function will also support the SRM.   

The Stakeholder Response Mechanism can help affected people, government agencies, and other project and program stakeholders, start or restart dialogue, facilitate discussions, mediate disputes, enhance understanding of the facts, and undertake other activities that might help resolve concerns and disputes.

 

Who May Request the Stakeholder Response Mechanism?

Any person or community potentially affected by a UNDP-supported project may file a request for a response from the Stakeholder Response Mechanism, if they have raised their concerns with Implementing Partners and/or with UNDP through standard channels for stakeholder consultation and engagement and have not been satisfied with the response. The request must relate to a UNDP-supported project and a possible environmental or social impact, and identify how the Requestors have been, or may be, adversely affected by the UNDP project or programme.

If a person or community has a concern about the ability of the UNDP Country Office to respond fairly and effectively to the request, they have the option to file the request directly with the Stakeholder Response Mechanism at UNDP Headquarters in New York. Requests can be sent to the SRM through the Internet or through the mail.

 

What Happens After the Request is Submitted?

Normally, a Country Office Designee will review requests for use of the SRM, and share them with the Headquarters staff supporting the SRM for additional input. When SRM are filed through the Headquarters, the Headquarters SRM Staff will review any concerns raised about the involvement of the Country Office, and decide how best to proceed with the process.

The Country Office Designee (and/or Headquarters SRM staff) will first determine, by asking the following questions, if the request is appropriate for the Stakeholder Response Mechanism:

  • Does the request relate to a UNDP-supported project?
  • Have the requestors provided enough information to establish the possibility that they may be, or may have been, adversely affected by the project?
  • Have the requesters attempted to resolve issues through Implementing Partner or UNDP project stakeholder engagement processes?

If the request appears to be eligible, the appropriate UNDP Stakeholder Response Mechanism staff will then assess the potential for a response process to succeed. The UNDP staff may:

  • Contact the requestor directly to learn more about the situation and issues that have led to the request;
  • Contact other stakeholders within UNDP and among programme and project partners, to ask about issues raised in the request and ways to resolve those issues (maintaining confidentiality of the re¬questor’s identity if so requested)
  • Suggest specific actions to UNDP and other stakeholders, if it appears that the complaint or dispute may be relatively easy for the stakeholders to resolve.

If the assessment suggests the need for a process of dialogue and negotiation among the requestor and other stakeholders through the SRM, the UNDP lead staff will propose such a process, and seek agreement among the primary stakeholders - including the requestors, affected people, project sponsors, the host government, and UNDP – on how to proceed. The process will be tailored to the needs of the requestors and stakeholders.

The involvement of the Stakeholder Response Mechanism will continue as long as the stakeholders believe it is beneficial, or until agreement is reached. One or more stakeholders may decide not to proceed while the process continues. If stakeholders leave, UNDP will decide if and when the process will end.

When agreement is reached among all participating stakeholders, the SRM will submit a report describing this agreement to UNDP staff, the UNDP Administrator, and all participating stakeholders.

Where appropriate, a plan for monitoring the implementation of the agreement will be part of an agreement, and UNDP will issue a monitoring report at least annually.

To learn more about the SRM and its procedures, please see our SRM Guidance Note.

For specific inquiries

SRM Case Registry
The SRM's Case Registry enables the public to view information about the SRM's current and prior stakeholder response cases.

Contacting the SRM
Please send your SRM-specific inquiries via email to:
stakeholder.response@undp.org

 

Submitting a Request

You may submit requests via our telephone, post, email or social media applications. For more information on these options, please see below.

Complaints should be as specific as possible, describing current or potential adverse impacts that have a plausible causal link to a UNDP-supported project/programme and, if possible, the UNDP social and environmental standards/commitments that are believed to have been violated.

 

    Call (costs are incurred by caller) using 001 (917) 207 4285. Skype is an affordable way to place such a call.

    You may also mail any request or communication (in any language) to:

    Attn: SECU/SRM, OAI, UNDP
    1 U.N. Plaza, 4th Floor
    New York, NY USA 10017

    You may submit a SECU and SRM request or communication to: project.concerns@undp.org and secuhotline@undp.org (in any language).

    If you choose to email or mail your complaint, please note that there are no strict format or language requirements. It is helpful if the complaint includes the following information:

    • Name, address, telephone number, and other contact information.
    • Whether the Complainant(s) wish to keep their identity confidential, and if so, why.
    • Name, location, and nature of the UNDP project or programme (if known).
    • How the Complainants believe they have been, or are likely to be, adversely affected by the UNDP-supported project or programme.
    • If a third party, such as a civil society organization, is filing a complaint on behalf of an affected individual or community, the complaint should include evidence the third party is working on behalf of the individual or community.
    • Although helpful, it is not necessary to cite to specific UNDP standards or policies (such as the UNDP's Social and Environmental Standards).

    For assistance in submitting a request via email or mail, please download this guidance form.

    Please message us on WhatsApp, Viber and Signal using 001 (917) 207 4285, or through our WeChat account @SECUSRM.